Card game



l. T. SMITH.

CARD GAME.

APPLICATION. FILED MAR.10, 1921.

Patented Mar. 7, 1922.

Syn 001M501 the representation of the Goddess ISAAC T. SMITH'JOF ROCKY MOUNT, NORTH CAROLINA.

CARI) GAME.

Application filed March 10, 1921.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ISAAC T. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rocky Mount, in the county of 'N ash and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Card ames; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it apperta-ins to make and use the same.

This invention relates to an improved card game and one object of the invention is to provide a game which will not only alford amusement but which will in addition be instructive. In addition to providing a. means for playing a game, the cards contain the names of the thirteen original colonies and the capitals of the colonies and further the cards are so numbered and named that thenames and numbers correspond consecutively according-to the ratification of the Constitution of the United States by the several colonies. That isv to say, the first card of a suit has printed: thereon Delaware which was the first state to ratify the- Constitution and. the last card has the number 13 and Rhode'Island which was the last colony to ratify the Constitution. The names of the capitals are printed upon the cards of a second suit so that one suit contains cards having marked thereon the names of the colonies in consecutive order of ratification and the corresponding cards of a second suit havethe capitals in their proper order. Each suit in addition to the thirteen numbered and named cards is provided with a high trump card, the high trump card of one suit having marked thereon a representation of Uncle Sam and the high trump of a second suit having thereon of Liberty. This brings-out the fact that the United States and Liberty standequal in strength. e rules of the game which are hereinafter set forth also bring out the fact that Liberty is of the highest value and that Uncle Sam has the value of Liberty. This game is played through the medium of a deck of cards divided into suits, two of which will be of one color and two of which will be of a distinctive color, one preferably being red and the second being blue.

In the accompanying drawings: 7

Fig, 1 represents one suit which may be either. red or blue.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 7, 1922. Serial No. 451,125.

Fig. 2 represents a second be either red or blue.

Fig. 3 represents suit shown in Fig. 2.

This deck is divided into four suits, two of which will be printed as shown in Fig. l and two of which will be printed or in other words marked as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. One of the suits printed as shown in F ig. 1 will be printed in red and the second in blue and in the same way one of the suits printed as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 will be printed in red and the second in blue. It will thus be seen that of the four suits, two will be printed as shown in Fig. 1 and two as shown in Figs. 2 and In Fig. 1, there has been shown a suit having its highest card printed suit which may with a small shield in diagonally disposed corners and the letters S. between this small shield and the end of the-card. F ig-' ures which represent Uncle Sam are printed in the center of the card and will preferably be printedto'show Uncle Sam with a jolly expression. The remaining cards of the suit will be numbered 1 through lid-inclusive, in their diagonally disposed corners with these stagger indicating numbers each positioned above a .shield 3 similar to the shields 1 of the card bearing the representation of Uncle Sam. The Uncle Sam card will of course have the highest trick taking value. In the center of each of thecards will be provided ashield 4 and this shield will have a circle in its middle in which will be printed a number corresponding to the number above the corner shield. For reasons pointed out in the rules for playing, it is desired to have the card No. 1 and the card No. 13 distinctively marked and therefore these two cards will each have acircle 5 provided about the shield 4. The names of the thirteen original colonies are printed upon these cards and from an inspection of Fig. 1, it will be seen that these names of the colonies are printed uponthe cards having numbers corresponding to the order in which the particular colony ratified the Constitution of the United States. The No. 1 card bears the name of the colony or state of Delaware which was the first to ratify the Constitution and the card No. 13 carries the name Rhode Island which was the last colony to ratify the Constitution. It will thus be seen that these cards contain original colonies but further show the consecutive order,

one of the cards of the not only the names of the.

in which they ratified the Liberty printed thereon as shown at 8.

Constitution. In Fig. 2 there is shown a suit of cards and there will be two of these suits, one printed red and one blue. The high card 6 of this suit will have a star '7 in diagonally disposed corners with a letter L above the star and in the center, the card will have a representation of the Goddess of remaining cards of the suit will be each provided with a star 9 in the diagonally disposed corners and these cards will be numbered 1 through 13 inclusive similar to the cards of the Suits shown in Fig. 1. In the center of each of these cards will. be printed a large star 10 having a circle in its center in which will be positioned a number corresponding to the corner number. The cards Nos. 1 and 13 will be distinctively marked so that they can be distinguished from the remaining cards. The card No. 13 will be provided with two stars 11 between points of the center star 10 and it will be noted that this card has 13 stars which will of course correspond to the number of original colonies. The card No. 1 is also provided with a ring of stars which are smaller than the stars 11 'and this ring of'stars is inclicated by the numeral 12. The stars in this ring together with the; large center star and corner stars if'added together will produce. 7

of points made partners score made, or each a'number of stars'corresponding to the number of Statesin the Union. The cards of this 'suit have marked in their corners the names of the capitals of the thirteen original colonies, thenames being marked to correspond to the colonies or States upon the cards of the suits shown in Fig. 1. By comparing liig. 1 with Fig. 2 it will be readily seen that t 1e name of the State of Delaware and that the No. 1 card of Fig. 2 ,7 is marked with the name Dover which cityis thecapital of the State of Delaware and in the same way each follows succeeding card of the suits shown in Fig. 3 shows the name of the capital of the colony or State shown upon the corresponding cards in the suit of Fig. 1. The backs of these cards may be marked in any suitable design desired. The cards are known as Liberty cards and the name of the game is Liberty.

The rules for playing this game are as Cut the cards or draw for deal, the player who cuts or draws the highest card deals. fiiUncle Sam and Liberty are highest in their respective suits. Deal out the cards face down, one at a time, by

continuing until all the pack has been dealt. The turn to deal passes the 5s, using the 5s as low point counters. When dealing for a, three The handed games, the players a game the other card No. 1 of Fig.1 is marked with the to the left. When only three play, remove all cards from the pack below who bids highest may take the scouts, using such cards as may strengthen his hand and discard four cards of less value. The player who takes the last trick is entitled to the discarded scouts whichcounts one trick, and it game counters are among the scouts, they count for the player who takes the trick. 7 7 7 When four play, use the entire pack. It may be optional with the players asto making scouts of the last four cards in the pack, but a more evenly balanced game may be played by having no scouts and dealing all the cards to the four players. In all four should pair otl and opposites play partners.

WVhen five play, use the entire-pack; There will be only one card "for the scouts. highest bidder uses the scout the same as in a three handed game. Each of the five may play for himself, but a very interesting game may be had by letting the bidder choose a partner by inviting the player who'holds a certain important card (naming the card The" aloud) and then lead so as to let his chosen partner use that card to advantage. In'such Each of the threerpartners score the'number jointly and each ofthe two the entire pack; There which are used by thehighestbidder as in the other games.

In a six handed game, the players should alwaysplay partners, the 1st, 3rd and 5th against the 2nd, 4th and 6th players. In partnership games, the first side that scores 13 points wins. plays for himself, the. first player who scores 13 points wins. For convenience, assort and group the cards in hand and suits. I

Bidding: Players bid for the privilege of choosing the trump suit; The player at the dealers left has the first chance to bid. Bids less than two are not permitted. If a players hand is not strong enough to warrant his bidding two points he must pass the bid to the next player at his left. Neither may a player bid more than six because only six. points may be made from any one deal, as will be noted by the number of point counters in the pack. v V

The correct names of the suits are: red stars, blue stars, red stripes, blue stripes.

N0 playerexcept the highest bidder an nounces the Suit he is bidding on, Bidd ng I three players join and play as opposing partners to the two players the number of points they When each person taken from opposing continues until no player will bid higher. A player-must either raise thebid or pass player who 'has'passe'dcannotbid again on'that hand;

An example in bidding: Four players are playing: The'fi'rst holds in hand numbers 1, 4; 9, 10, 12, 13, and Uncle Sam of blue stripes. He holds, as will be seen, two sure points, so starts the=bid at two. The second player holds equally strong'on red stars and bids three. The third player (the first players partner) does not'hold strong on any suit, hence he passes. The fourth player holds a very good hand but prefers to let the second player- (his partner) take the chance of getting the bidet three so he passes. The first player-having a second chance at the bid, and being something of a sport, takes a chance at his number 1, winnin tricksor making game, The second player does notsee a chance to make five'so passes, leaving the bid to the first player whoannounces the'trump suit.

Playing: The player who leads, with any card he chooses to play, by placin the card near the center of the table ace'up." The turn to play passes to the left. Each player plays one card in turn. The highest card of the suit led takes the cards thus played, which is called a trick, unless someone plays a trump, in which case the highest trump played takes the trick.

The advantage in bidding highest and choosing the trump suit is apparent, because the capture the highest numbers of the other suits, but it must be remembered that all players must follow suit as long as they have cards in hand of the suit led. Players may trump in only when they can not follow suit, or they may throw away (i. e. play a card of any other suit than that led when the trick is not worth trumping) only when they can not follow suit.

The winner of a trick places it on the table face down in front of him and leads a card for the next trick. The lead continues in this way until all the cards have been played. The next-player in turn deals the cards as before and playing continues until some player (or partners if playing partners) wins thirteen points. Any suit may be led, however, I suggest to those who are not familiar with card games, that when the bidder holds a strong hand of high numbers of trumps it will be found a very safe plan to lead trumps until all the trumps have been players. This is simply a suggestion, for practice and experience alone can lead the individual player to discover the wonderful amount of science that may be used in playing Liberty.

The object of each player is to capture tricks, game counters and point counters,

gets the bid and raises the bid to four.

lower numbers of the trump suit can Counting: The game counters are all cards of all suits that value five or the multiple of five. All thirteens, Uncle-Sams and Liberties are valued at ten in arriving at the total game, hence all fives, tens, thirteens, Uncle Sams and Liberties are game counters andaggregate a total of 140. The greatest number of game counters constitutes one point. It is evident therefore that the player who wins 75 in game values will score one point. The total number of points that may be made, by both sides, from playing out'one hand is 6.

Point counters: The greatest aggregate of game counters counts one point. The greatest number of tricks counts one point. The number 1 or low card of trumps counts one point. The number 13 card of trumps counts one point. Uncle Sam of trumps or trump color counts one point. Liberty of trumps or trump color counts one point. If game counters tie, the bidder scores the point. If the number of tricks tie, the bidder loses the point and his opponent scores it. Scouts count as a trick for the player who takes'the last trick.

Forfeits: The player who chooses the trump suit must make good his bid or forfeit (from his score already made, or be marked minus if he has no score) the number of points equal to his bid. In other words he is set back just that number of points. The other players score the points they make, in the usual way. Any player who fails to follow suit when he has cards in hand that will follow, shall forfeit one point. For suggesting to ones partner, either directly or indirectly, how toplay, or for making any conversational reference that might control the play, a player shall forfeit one point and his opposing players may add one point to their score. After all cards have been played and all points properly scored, the next player in turn, shuffles and deals, and the trump suit is bid for and announced as before. The player who first gets thirteen points wins the game.

It is worth while to note that there are only two cards of Uncle Sam and two cards of Liberty, the Uncle cards being high est in the stripe suits and the Liberty cards highest in the star suits; and one Uncle and one Liberty (according to trump color) always count one point each in every hand played, it matters not whether stars or stripes are trumps. One may very naturally ask why (since there are no Liberty cards in stripes and no Uncle sam cards in stars) should Liberty count one point when stripes are trumps and Uncle Sam count one point when stars are trumps? This is the outstanding and peculiarly distinctive feature in the arrangement of the game of Liberty both as to the formation of the suits and .Sam of the trump color the method of counting points.- So when stripes, red or blue, are trumps, Liberty of the trump color (by virtue of color only) counts one point for whlchever player catches or saves her, but- Liberty in this instance is not a trump,

deck of cards divided into suits, certain of the suits being printed'in the same color and each suit being composed of cards having trick taking value markings increasing from low to high and each suit including one card distinctively-marked and having a greater trick taking value than any of the first mentioned cards of the suit and having a scoring value when another like colored suit is trumps,

a predetermined number of tricks having a predetermined scoring value, the lastmentioned card andc ertainof the other cards having predetermined values combinable and when combined producing a sum having a predetermined scoringvalue, and each having a separate scoringyalue.

2. A deck ofplayingcards divided-into suits, certain of the;suits being ot the same color the cards ofleach suit corresponding in number to the original colonies and marked consecutively from 1 #1013 mg relative trick taking values,

the cards of one suit each having the name of a colony thereon with the names arranged consecutively in the order of ratification of the Constitution of the United States and the corresponding cards of a second suit having marked thereon the respective capitals of the v colonies, and a distinctively marked card for each suit having the highest trick taking value, the distinctively marked card of each suit having a scoring value when another like colored suit-is trumps.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. I a a r is Andi. sivirrn';v

and hav- 

